We are just entering the QM world my son is turning 5 in April. We have owed and older Fiser (400 Series) since he was 3 yrs old. We have spend numerous hours practicing, and he does extremly well. but everyone does well when nobody else is on the track with them. So, I when out and purchased a newer Fiser as a "alomost" complete roller. It had only 1 rear shock which was a Tanner Gen II. So my delima is, do I spent $400 plus dollars for Tanner's or Just run the shocks that were on the older Fiser I purchased when he was 3. I think those shocks are Nervos. I'm hesitant to spend the money 1. He's gonna crash the kart up being new 2. Will shocks really make a difference at his skill level, just begining? 3. He may run 1 race have an issue and never want to race again (I'd try not to let that happen!). But these are my thoughts. I would however have to rebuild the old shocks to get the valving to a 3 all the way around, this is what the set up sheet says, that I was given with the kart.

Lastly,

What is the difference between Smoker Shocks and Nervo's? Do the parts interchange? Also, who makes Smokers? Any other cheap shocks I should look at? One we get to the point where he is commited, I have no problem paying for the high dollar items. But until then I'd like to keep it low just incase.

If you’re not sure if he will want to keep racing, I would run what you have for now and save the money for radius rods and heims. ;-)

Shocks in novice wont play as much of a part as the faster classes, as long as they are in good shape and work.

As for smoker shocks, we ran them our first 3 years and they were great and fit our budget well. You can contact Mike Smoker at (770) 324-3686, they are very cheap to rebuild and you can do them yourself if your mechanically inclined or send them to him, he has fast turnaround times and is a good guy to work with.

We switched our 4th year to Advance shocks and just love them. But I wouldn’t go spending allot of money right now if you don’t have to. Keep your eyes open on eBay and on the QM classifieds, you can find some great deals on good shocks for half the price of new.